The most memorable - has to be - The Madhouse in Curacao
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The most memorable - has to be - The Madhouse in Curacao
[QUOTE=Paula Oliveira;298559]Hi. Do you know Anchor House? I'm doing a job about Anchor House and the bar Stella Maris. Can you share any memories of that time? Anchor house now is a hostel for homeless people
Thanks[/QUOTE
Hi Paula I stayed at Anchor house a couple of times ,I can say as you walked in there was a barber shop on the right side a bar to the left and at the back was the dance Hall, it was 15 shillings a night for a room in 1969 and the padre was called father McGuinness, and he did like a drop of Guinness ,on some nights when there were fights in the Mission the barbers shop ended up the doctors surgery, I had a pint glass smashed on my head ,woke up to father Mc Guinness standing over me like a doctor ,had 10 stitches put in at the hospital. The only other thing I can remember Paula was it was opposite Rathbone market. And the bridge house Hotel/pub was just down the road ,hope this helps you in some way.
The Mission to Seamen here in Melbourne is still going strong.
Plenty of ships into port and the Mission runs a bus service for crew members.
It stands on a very prominent corner and for a number of years there have been developers who thought it would be a good development site.
But a heritage listing has been put on it so it will be safe for many more years to come.
Attachment 26828
Wellington, NZ, 1942 - Evening Post record of Flying Angel event January 1942 makes intreresting reading. If its readable - may not be due to my lack of know-how.
Reads fine for me thanks, certain our Doc will
enlarge it perhaps if necessary.
Thanks Ken, it is of interest.
Regards,
Keith.
Have done Keith may be able to jiggle it a bit more see later!
Cheers
Added A bit larger now however I slight Blurring but looks OK
Many seaman's missions around the world ensure that all crew on board receive a Christmas parcel if their ship visits a Mission port during the moñth of December. It will usually consist of a shoe box full of useful item's such as a sewing kit, socks, handkerchief, confectionery etc. Along with a photo and letter from the person donating the box to the mission. One Christmas I received a box from the Houston mission and the person who had donated it was a very pretty lady called Mrs. Dane Dull. I wrote a thank you letter back to her which resulted in us over a period of years having some very lively correspondence, dull she certainly was not. We eventually gave up corresponding for reasons I forget but at times I often think about her and her generousity towards an unknown seafarer.
Rgds
J.A.
I wonder if this rings any bells with older hands.
"Although conditions on board ships have improved considerably since the 1800s, loneliness and separation from loved ones will always have an uncanny way of tearing the heart and the very nature of living in the workplace continues to subject seafarers to long working hours, fatigue and associated risk to physical and mental wellbeing.
A six-year study of over 1800 seafarers by the Cardiff Research Programme, commissioned by the International Transport Workers’ Federation and published in November 2006, found that Seafarers’ Fatigue was widespread and posed a significant threat to seafarers’ wellbeing.
The major findings were:
One in four seafarers said they had fallen asleep while on watch;
Almost 50% of seafarers taking part in the study reported working weeks of 85 hours or more;
Around half said their working hours had increased over the past 10 years, despite new regulations intended to combat fatigue;
Almost 50% of seafarers taking part in the study consider their working hours present a danger to their personal safety;
Some 37% said their working hours sometimes posed a danger to the safe operations of their ship;
Many reported that they had worked to the point of collapse and fallen asleep at the wheel and over half of the sample believed that their personal safety was at risk because of fatigue".
Crikey dick. Wonder where they all went to. More Brits than Aussies and not a Kiwi in sight?
"Seafaring is an international occupation. Although seafarers must speak minimal English to work onboard a ship, it is not unusual for a ship’s crew to be made up of 4 – 6 differing nationalities.
Visitation in the Flying Angel Club, Melbourne:
Filipino’s 40%
Chinese 24%
Indian 13%
Ukrainian 3.5%
Myanmar 2%
Sri Lankan 1.5%
Romanian 1%
Indonesian 1%
PNG 1%
Russian 1%
South Korean 1%
Polish 1%
Bulgarian 1%
English (UK) .5%
Malaysian .5%
Turkish .5%
German .4%
Australian .4%
Croatian .4%
Bangladesh .4%
Hong Kong .3%
Thai .3%
Kiribati .1%
South African .1%
Plus the thousands of seafarers our ship’s visitors see on board".
Very true, I often go into the Melbourne Mission and have yet to see a Pom, Kiwi or Aussie there from a ship.
But on cruise ships now, Princess in particular the crew do 9 month contracts. Company would like it to be one year to reduce costs but that will not occur.
Enterprise agreement in place with no crew member expected to work more than 12.5 hours per day apart from docking/sailing days.
The company provides 'Skype' for all and special rates for phone calls by crew to family ashore.
One crew member told me he phones home every week at a cost of less than 50 cents US for 30 minutes.